With the goal of adding to the body of knowledge concerned with improving construction project delivery, focusing specifically on better understanding the relationship between collaboration and value-generation, this thesis sought to explore the question of where, when, how, and why collaboration generates value to construction projects during the design/preconstruction phase. This was accomplished in part by conducting a case study involving an “integrated” project that engaged 20 participant-researchers employed by either the construction manager/general contractor, architect, or owner that played an integral role in the design/preconstruction phase of the case project. Using Morten T. Hansen’s concept of “disciplined collaboration” as a framework through which to analyze the collaboration that took place, interviews were conducted with all willing participants in order to find commonly shared feedback and to assemble a rich picture of how the design/preconstruction process was carried out by the members of each respective party to the project. This data was shared during an action learning session utilizing Soft Systems Methodology separately for each entity in order to invoke reflection and subsequent creation of improved-upon models of the process. These activity models were then used to generate questions that might be included in a conceptual model, or decision-making structure, for planning for value-generating collaboration during design/preconstruction. With the goal of viewing the process from the perspective of the project team as a whole, a final action learning session was conducted together with all organizations in order to develop a holistic conceptual model for planning for value-generating collaboration during the design/preconstruction phase of a construction project. First and foremost, this study found that when planning for collaboration that generates value, a project team must first determine what the objectives of the owner are.
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